


Fort Hagen

by Sketched



Series: Hancock/Thalia Drabbles [2]
Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout 4
Genre: F/M, Hurt/Comfort, headcanon that fahrenheit is hancock's daughter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-31
Updated: 2017-08-31
Packaged: 2018-12-22 04:21:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,585
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11959617
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sketched/pseuds/Sketched
Summary: Hancock brings the fluff in this one.





	Fort Hagen

               “We should settle down for the night somewhere.” Hancock suggested through gritted teeth.

The flaming wreckage of a sentry bot lie a few feet away from them, slowly being put out by the rain, and Thalia was reloading her shotgun in silence. She looked up to notice the way he held his side and concern flashed in her eyes.

“I know a place.” She said flatly, turning to stare at the little village they were trying so hard to avoid.

Hancock gripped the shrapnel stuck between two of his ribs tightly as they walked. Wounds like his were easier to deal with if the person was resting while they knitted, especially once the adrenaline wore off and had to be supplemented with Med-X.

She led him past Fort Hagen and into a two-story building across from it. A good ¾ of the roof and the western wall had been ripped away by the elements, but an unnamed drifter’s handiwork remained. Thalia turned on the radio and Hancock fell against a wall with a grunt onto a mattress below. She stared out the wall for a few seconds before making her way over to him.

She softly smiled at him and sat between his outstretched legs. He removed his hand and leaned a bit so his wound was exposed. She gave him two more injections of Med-X to compensate for his resistances to the drug and pulled out the large piece of metal briskly before shoving a rag over it and administering a Stimpack. Hancock gritted his teeth and made little noise. Once the entry wound knitted she let go of the rag and stood.

Thalia walked downstairs without saying anything and began smashing chairs and gathering debris for a small fire.

Hancock simply stared at the sunset through the missing wall and sighed. She had been so quiet since Kellogg only revealed more mysteries. Since she realized that Shaun had essentially grown up without her, it had worsened her sense of loss and turned her cold. They were on a mission without an objective, at this point just wandering to satiate her wish to process her feelings in the battlefield instead of in their bed crying.

She returned to light the fire. For the first time in almost a week she sat and leaned against his shoulder like she always had before. He put his arm around her shoulders, despite the slight pain from the other side of his ribcage, and pressed his cheek to her temple.

“Do you wanna talk about it, Sunshine?” He asked tentatively.

Thalia’s eyes slid to the dying sun’s glint on the wedding ring she had given Hancock. She looked to her own finger, where there were broken memories with their own golden glint. Nate had always asked that she not let their rings go to waste, “ _Either sell them to some scrap recycling facility or melt them down into a paperweight, do whatever will keep them from sitting in someone’s pawn shop or a box in an attic_.”

She laughed and told him what they did with them wouldn’t matter, because they’d both be dead in the end. They’d laugh, but she never thought his ring would become someone else’s.

“Nate… he’d never forgive me, you know.” She whispered.

The anxious drone of Diamond City Radio filled the room. There was nothing else, not a buzz or a roar. Not a gunshot or the shuffling of wind-blown debris. Only the crackling of the fire, the soft breathing of a lost mother, and labored breaths of her ghoul companion. The latter dare not speak a word.

“We… didn’t think we’d be able to have a child. To many drugs in our youths, yknow? That and my dad’s family always had a hard time having kids, _I_ was considered a miracle baby. But then one day, it worked. The pills and the doctor visits, all of it just came together, and my pregnancy was a dream. Not one little hiccup, I didn’t even catch a cold… Only morning sickness and back pain.” She added with a weak laugh.

“And then the bombs fell. And we were separated. And they were gone. Both taken from me at once, and I know Nate would never forgive himself if he lived. He would do anything for that boy, and I’m sure his consciousness is around somewhere, angry at me for not fighting harder or getting out of that cryo chamber sooner. I know it’s not my fault, but god dammit maybe if I just…” She said, tears brimming.

“I don’t care if he blames you, I don’t care who blames you, there’s nothing you could’ve done better. You killed that sonouvabitch baby snatcher.” He said, almost pleading with her to agree.

“He’s barely my son anymore, Hancock. Blood only goes so far when you’re raised by someone, or _something_ else.” She whispered.

“I know, Sunshine.” He whispered back. “You know that girl Fahrenheit, right?”

“Yeah, the tough one that never stops talking about chess?” She asked with a hiccup. She had begun crying.

“Yeah that tough one.” Hancock said with a dry laugh. “She’s mine. My daughter, made her a while before I was turned ghoul and never met her until she was 14. Her mom, a real looker that one, kept her from me when she found out about my little… change. That and it took her some time to remember who I was, you know, drugs and all that. Can’t really blame her, for a long time I was going by a different name. The thing is, Fay looks so much like how I used to. Same nose and eyes, though you can’t tell now. She knew her mother and to her knowledge she had no father. I haven’t told her different.”

“How did you meet her?” Thalia asked. He offered her the sleeve of his free arm, completely ignoring the throbbing of his side, and she wiped away her tears as he spoke.

“Her mother figured out it was me and stormed into my office telling me the whole story after kicking out any drifters in earshot. Luckily for her that face tattoo made it through the drug fog and I agreed. We had run together for a year or so before she had just… disappeared, I thought one of Vic’s boys had picked her off on a drug run. Regardless, the two of em moved into town and she pleaded with me to never tell Fay, because the kid had been through enough. We agreed to keep it a secret. I had a town to get under control, she had a teenage girl to raise, it just _worked_ for us. Doesn’t really matter now, Fay’d probably never believe me. That, and I don’t want to make her life any more confusing. In her head, her father is a useless druggie that ran out on her and her ma, and that ma overdosed two years ago long after Fay kicked her out for relapsing for the hundredth time and spending all their caps in one night. I swear, she only tolerates me because I can’t get addicted anymore…” Hancock said, staring into the sunset.

“I…” Thalia’s voice trailed off.

“Don’t worry about it.” Hancock said, completely relaxed. “Maybe I’ll add that to my will, just in case I ever do go. But, you have to stop blaming yourself. It’s a miracle that you came out of that cryo chamber and a damn miracle you’re still alive. From what we know, Shaun is still alive too. You two didn’t die in that vault. That’s what matters, not whose fault it is that he was raised by someone else.” He added, rubbing small circles into her shoulder with his thumb.

Thalia simply slid down his side and opted to lay her head on his thighs. Their hands intertwined and they stayed silent for a few minutes while her crying ebbed.

“He’s my son but I’m not his mom.” She whispered to herself.

An evening fog began to roll in, licking the tiled ground floor of their hideaway. Hancock dug around in his breast pocket for a moment before lighting a cigarette and adding to the light mist in the air.

“Should we keep looking?” Hancock asked quietly, his free hand gently cradling her face. She had stopped crying a few minutes earlier and the sun had disappeared from the sky, aside from a weak pale light that made way for the stars.

She was quiet for a bit longer.

“Someday, we should. But for now,” She said, squeezing his hand, “there are good synths to smuggle out of the Commonwealth and more monsters that need putting down.”

Hancock smirked and spat out his cigarette butt. Pride swelled in his chest and his side throbbed weakly as the wound finished off its healing. “You’re amazing, yknow that?”

She smiled back at him. “You’re extremely comfortable.”

He leaned back against the wall. His tense muscles relaxed for the first time since hearing the Sentry Bot’s robotic chime. Thalia rolled off of his lap and dug around in their bags for a spare pillow. She tossed it to him lightly and he caught it while repositioning himself onto the mattress. She curled up next to him and used his chest as a headrest while they stared up at the stars.

“I love you.” Thalia said softly. She listened to how his heart sped up slightly and smiled to herself.

“I love you too Sunshine.” He rasped sleepily.


End file.
